Hi again, Juan,
Thank you for your clear and patient reply. It's certainly true that an ordinary computer can't capture the continuum array of values that we normally associate with an uncollapsed quantum state. However, is this necessary if a quantum state always collapses to a single state when observed?
What I would argue that it *is* possible to do is build a working discrete approximation to phenomena like the double-slit experiment. I would say it's also possible to have such approximations have just as many potential outcomes as a physical QM experiment and have them be just as unpredictable.
I propose that this is true because I've built such an approximation, although it's still admittedly crude. I fire a pseudoparticle in a simulation at a screen with two slits. It passes through both of them and self-interferes. It then collapses to a single point on the screen at the far end of the sim-apparatus. Collecting data from multiple particles builds up the interference pattern we would like to see. Changing the wavelength of the particles changes the width of the fringes observed. There are no complex numbers used and no wave equations.
If we can emulate something like self-interference to this level of detail without qubits, what does quantum logic buy us? We may not be describing the total set of all possible states, but we don't have access to those states in any case. Are we certain that they exist in reality?
I'd be delighted to hear your opinions on the matter.
All the best,
Alex
PS: If you're interested in how self-interference is achieved, my essay outlines the methodology. In essence, the simulation works by employing a non-standard notion of locality. All opinions on the approach are extremely welcome.